Get ready for some serious goosebumps! If this copy of Songs Of Leonard Cohen doesn’t give you chills, I don’t know what will. This copy is a HUGE step up from the typical pressing, with the kind of rich, full tonality and open, transparent soundfield we just don't hear often enough on this album.

His voice is obviously going to be the most important component, and if it isn't BIG, RICH and sweet, it's just irritating. Both sides here are relaxed and musical, unlike the typical copy we played, which is lifeless and compressed to death. We heard plenty of bass as well, with weight down deep and definition in the midrange. You'll have a hard time finding a better copy than this, folks!

We've played a ton of 360s and Red Labels and copies that sounded even half this good were the exception and not the rule.

Vinyl Condition

Mint Minus Minus and maybe a bit better is about as quiet as any vintage pressing will play, and since only the right vintage pressings have any hope of sounding good on this album, that will most often be the playing condition of the copies we sell. (The copies that are even a bit noisier get listed on the site are seriously reduced prices or traded back in to the local record stores we shop at.)

Those of you looking for quiet vinyl will have to settle for the sound of later pressings and Heavy Vinyl reissues, purchased elsewhere of course as we have no interest in selling records that don't have the vintage analog magic of these wonderful originals.

If you want to make the trade-off between bad sound and quiet surfaces with whatever Heavy Vinyl pressing might be available, well, that's certainly your prerogative, but we can't imagine losing what's good about this music -- the size, the energy, the presence, the clarity, the weight -- just to hear it with less background noise.

Overall Sonic Grade:

Side One - A++
Side Two - A++ to A+++

Vinyl Grade:

1) Mint Minus to Mint Minus Minus
2) Mint Minus to Mint Minus Minus

Cover Grade: 8 out of 10

TRACK LISTING

Side One

Suzanne
Master Song
Winter Lady
The Stranger Song
Sisters of Mercy

Side Two

So Long, Marianne
Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye
Stories of the Street
Teachers
One of Us Cannot Be Wrong

A breathtaking and perfect debut, Songs of Leonard Cohen marked the emergence of one of the most enduring, unique, and brilliant voices in popular music... A masterpiece of perversity and pain.